Horse Racing : Inquiry Can Affect an Entire Entry

In the Landaluce Stakes last Saturday at Hollywood Park, there was a stewards’ inquiry into the stretch run of the race.

There was the possibility that Over All, who had finished first, might have interfered with Tomorrow’s Child, the third-place runner.

Over All ran as a betting entry with Blue Jean Baby, the second-place finisher, because both fillies are owned by Gene Klein and trained by Wayne Lukas.

It turned out that the stewards didn’t detect enough trouble to disqualify Over All. But had they ruled that the winner interfered, would they have disqualified Blue Jean Baby, the other half of the entry, as well?

“We have the option to disqualify both parts of an entry if one of the horses commits a foul,” said Pete Pedersen, one of the Hollywood Park stewards. “But in order for that to happen, we would have to be convinced that there was collusion, that a jockey on one of the coupled horses was bothering another horse so that his stablemate could win.

“There was no evidence of such a possibility in this race. But when you consider something like that, it would be an awfully tough call to make most of the time. You’re put in the position where you have to get inside the head of one of the riders, and that’s a difficult thing to do.”

At Arlington Park in 1957, the stewards didn’t have an option. Owner Fred Hooper’s Alhambra won the Arlington Futurity by nine lengths, with his entrymate, Olymar, finishing third.

Behind the free-running Alhambra, Olymar interfered with Leather Button, who ran second. Because of existing rules, the stewards had no choice but to disqualify both of the Hooper horses and give the win to Leather Button.

The next year, the rule was changed in Illinois as well as in most other states. Before, the rule said that the entire entry “must be disqualified” in the event of a foul; now the rule reads, “may be disqualified.”

Hubert Jones, another steward at Hollywood Park, remembers when he was in the judges’ stand in New Mexico a number of years ago.

“There was a horse closing like crazy on the rail when part of an entry shut him off,” Jones said. “The other half of the entry won the race, but would have been passed by the horse on the rail except for the interference.

“We took both of the horses in the entry down, and there wasn’t one complaint--not from the fans, not even from the owner of the two coupled horses.”

In the 1968 Santa Margarita Handicap at Santa Anita, Gamely and Princessnesian, both owned by William H. Perry, ran 1-2.

Gamely bore out on her stablemate near the wire and the Daily Racing Form’s chart of the race said that Princessnesian had been “intimidated” by the move.

Gamely and Princessnesian were coupled, so the stewards reasoned that there was no need to consider changing the order of finish since, either way, the mutuel payoffs would be the same and Perry would collect the first- and second-place purses.

But Perry probably would have preferred a disqualification of Gamely. He had bred Princessnesian himself, while Gamely had been bred by Claiborne Farm.

“Coupled entries can be tricky,” Petersen said.

So tricky that at New York tracks, if one part of the entry is scratched after betting has started, the other horse runs only for purse money and refunds are made to those who bet the entry.

This helps avoid what happened at the Meadowlands in New Jersey several years ago. A heavy favorite, ridden by Angel Cordero, was scratched at the gate and the public was left holding tickets on the other half of the entry, a horse with little chance.

Thousands of fans acted as though they were going to burn down the plant. The Meadowlands management canceled the rest of the races and sent everybody into the cool night air, hoping that would put an end to a hot situation.

There are mixed predictions about the Keeneland summer yearling auction that will be held next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Lexington, Ky.

This is the sale that brings the highest prices of the year for yearlings, topped by the record $13.1 million that was paid for the Nijinsky II-My Charmer colt in 1985.

The first two days of the sale bring the highest prices. Last year, 256 unnamed yearlings, known only by their hip numbers and pedigrees, sold for an average of $408,160. That was a drop of 24% from the previous year, and almost 32% below l984, the record year when the average horse sold for almost $600,000.

Nelson Bunker Hunt thinks that this year’s Keeneland prices will be down. Gene Klein, a big spender at Keeneland in recent years, says that there still will be a lot of competition for the big-ticket yearlings. Mary Bradley, who will also attend the sales, is impressed by the strength of Keeneland’s catalog--a listing of 362 horses the first two days and 175 on Wednesday--and feels that buyers will respond accordingly.

Horse Racing Notes

Jockey Alex Solis was hospitalized after suffering a concussion and multiple bruises and cuts when his mount, Tranzour, fell after clipping heels with another horse during Wednesday’s fifth race at Hollywood Park. The 23-year-old native of Panama was taken to Centinela Hospital Medical Center, where he was examined by Dr. Ralph Gambardella, and remained there overnight for precautionary observation. . . . Bill Shoemaker will be riding One from Heaven, the winner of the Canadian Oaks, in Sunday’s 128th running of the Queen’s Plate at Woodbine outside of Toronto. Shoemaker has never won the Plate. Ferdinand won the race in 1897, but Shoemaker wasn’t aboard. . . . With Lady’s Secret off form, North Sider has become the top older distaffer in trainer Wayne Lukas’ barn, and the 5-year-old mare is expected to run Sunday in the $200,000 Vanity at Hollywood Park. North Sider, who has stakes wins at Santa Anita, Oaklawn Park and Monmouth Park this year, will carry 121 pounds, one more than Seldom Seen Sue and Reloy. . . . Bedside Promise, who, with 125, would have been giving 7 pounds to Judge Angelucci, is skipping Saturday’s $150,000 Bel Air Handicap at Hollywood.